Weston braced for battle

Kent’s Matt Weston is wary of the threat of host nation China as he aims to raid the Olympic skeleton podium in Beijing.

The Tunbridge Wells star won World Cup gold at Igls in November - tied with two other rivals - the first Brit to hit the top step since 2008.

Weston shared gold that day with Germany’s Christopher Grotheer and China’s Wenqiang Geng and the Brit expects to the hosts to come out firing.

“We’ve only had 40 runs down the track, they’ve probably had 400, even more to be honest,” he said.

“They’re going to be consistent; they’ve got some good talent in some of their pushes. But you’ve got to be on the money every time.

“The pressure of the fact that they’ve had all those extra runs could get to them.”

Grotheer is arguably favourite for gold but absent from the field will be PyeongChang silver medallist Nikita Tregubov due to Covid.

“Nikita is always one of the guys who is in the top six and winning medals,” said Weston. “It’s really unfortunate for him, I’m upset he’s not here because you never want anyone to miss out.”

Team GB have won medals at all seven Games at which skeleton has featured.

Weston takes heart from his nation’s heritage of success on the biggest stage of them all. “You can’t write us off,” he said. “I feel like we’re in a very strong position coming here. “There is a pressure, but I like to think of it as a comfort. We have that success and history of winning medals and for me, it’s comforting because I know the staff have been here before, the team, and we know how to perform every four years. I take a lot of confidence from it.” Watch all the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 live on discovery+, Eurosport and Eurosport app